Follow the Leader
by Blue Quartz Foxy
Summary: Date Me Entry for April 2008. Since Tsunade refused to give them a mission; Sasuke and Hinata wander Konoha, searching for something to occupy their time. Along the way, Sasuke picks up a fowl fan-girl.


Follow the Leader

Notes: This is my contribution to last April's (08) Date Me Contest on DA. The theme being April Showers and SasuHina. Sorry it took me so long to post it here. Please read and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the anime/manga series Naruto. No way, no how.

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Pink painted nails tap-tapped against the wooden surface of desk. A stack of unread and signature-less papers to her right elbow, mission scrolls to her left. Tsunade knew she had literally a pile of missions to off load on the two standing in front of her.

However, over half of those were useless, since one of the two was still on strict probation and wasn't allowed to take missions above D rank or leave the village.

'That still leaves about thirty…' the blonde-haired woman thought with a sigh, a raging headache starting to form behind her temples. Of course even with thirty missions to choose from Sasuke would take his precious time picking out one.

'This kid is almost as bad as Naruto.' Tsunade remarked to herself with a long-suffering smirk curling on her lips as an idea came to mind.

"Nope, no missions today. Sorry you two but you're just out of luck today."

Tsunade could barely keep herself from cracking up as she saw Sasuke cut her a glare. He obviously wasn't buying it, well tough! She was the Hokage; she had the power to deny the 'great' Uchiha Sasuke a mission; even one as insipid as gardening or baby-sitting.

However, Tsunade felt a stab of sympathy as she saw Hinata cringe a little.

"There is a stack of scrolls on your desk, yet you're saying you don't have a single mission for us?" Sasuke asked, obviously skeptical at Tsunade's claim.

The blonde-haired woman grinned widely, "That's right, so why don't you two run off and do something fun together."

"…fun?" Sasuke questioned, obviously liking Tsuande less and less the longer their conversation dragged on.

"Yes Uchiha, it's the opposite of work. You might try it sometime; maybe then you might be able to muster up a smile or two on occasion instead of looking so constipated."

After twenty unsuccessful minutes of Sasuke refusing to leave the Hokage tower until he and Hinata were given a mission, the couple ended up descending down the winding staircase down the bottom level. Standing in front of the entrance, Hinata first moved to get her umbrella out. With a click, black waterproof fabric busted open.

"Ah! Sasuke-san…w-wait for me, please!" Hinata called out since Sasuke was already standing out in the steady down pour of rain.

Hurrying, her shoes kicking up rain puddles as she ran, Hinata came up to Sasuke's side.

Dark eyes looked down at her, "You didn't have to run. I wasn't going anywhere." Sasuke said simply.

"Um…" Hinata mumbled, her gaze lowered, thinking to herself what an idiot she was for chasing after him.

'It's not like Sasuke-san needs me.' Hinata thought, 'I only live with him because Tsunade-sama was tired of wasting ANBU members, by having them stake out his house and watch over him.'

The young woman sighed a little. Five months living with the last Uchiha had hardly turned Hinata into a Sasuke fan girl.

If anything the raven-haired man…frustrated her more than anything. It was rare when someone could try Hinata's seemingly endless supply of patience. Still, her time was mostly spent with Sasuke, whether they both liked it or not.

Sasuke wasn't allowed to leave the village and could only complete D-rank missions. As his live-in guard, Hinata had to tag along with him through the village. Falling behind Sasuke a few steps, Hinata silently pondered, her pale gaze lowered to look at the black 'bracelets' on Sasuke's wrists.

'It must be hard…' Hinata thought, 'to have so much power, so many jutsus; but being unable to use them.' Sasuke suddenly stopped right in front of her, causing Hinata to halt her footsteps so that she didn't crash into his back.

"Are you just going to stare at my back all day?" Sasuke questioned.

Again, Hinata felt her cheeks flush up with heated color.

"Um…" she started to mutter, but stopped when Sasuke turned and looked at her.

Dark coal colored eyes seemed to stare right through her and piece something deep inside Hinata. How anyone could find those cold eyes attractive, Hinata could only guess, because to her, Sasuke's stare only managed to intimidate her. Sasuke looked at her again then shrugged, "Never mind."

Hinata pressed her lips together, feeling like she had faltered in that Sasuke felt it was easy to brush her off. They walked in silence for several minutes until Hinata realized something…

"Um…Sasuke-san, where are we going?" she questioned.

At first, the young man didn't answer her. He kept walking on, slowly leaving her behind. Hinata nervously bit her bottom lip. Was she supposed to follow him? Or go home? What if Sasuke wanted to be alone and by keeping up with him she was annoying him…

"Are you coming or not?" Sasuke asked impatiently, interrupting Hinata's inward debate.

If Sasuke were honest with Hinata- and himself- he'd have to say that he had no earthly idea where he was going. Tsunade-sama suggested they go out and…'have fun'. But how could anyone have fun when it was raining buckets outdoors. Sasuke's first thought was to duck into a restaurant or tea house. Even though he wasn't hungry, Sasuke knew he at least could sit a warm room and maybe have a little something to drink or snack on.

But that idea came with a few cons. Namely, Sasuke was sure shop owners wouldn't open their doors to a noted village traitor.

The gaming parlor across the way was an option too; but Sasuke knew only old men and one Nara hung out there. Though Sasuke had nothing against geezers playing Chinese Checkers, Go and Shougi; he'd rather avoid any potential run ins with that guy at all cost. Hinata already spent too much time with him whenever she offered to baby-sit for Kurenai-sensei.

Not that he was jealous. Sasuke gave a look to Hinata, who innocently blinked, confused as to what she did to earn a glare; but then looked away again.

Though Tsunade-sama had implied otherwise, the concept of 'fun' was not a forgin one to Sasuke. He did have a childhood before the Massacre. However, Sasuke didn't think Hinata and himself could play something like 'Leap Frog' or 'Ninja' through the muddy streets of Konoha without raising a few eyebrows. People already thought he was half-crazy as it was, Sasuke wanted to avoid proving them right.

So games he played as a six year old were out of the question. And…well Sasuke honestly didn't know what people their age did for fun. Though, Sasuke had a sinking feeling dating someone of the opposite sex fitted in somehow. Out of suggestions, Sasuke turned to his companion and asked her…

"What do you do for fun?"

Hinata's footsteps stopped, pale lavender eyes blinking owlishly. DidSasuke just asked her that? It seemed so unusual for Sasuke to be interested in anyone, let alone someone's hobbies or activities. Hinata peered up from underneath her umbrella, wondering if he was joking.

Sasuke stared back at her, "Well?" he questioned impatiently.

"Um…well…" Hinata wrestled with her self-control to keep her fingers from tapping together, "sometimes I pick and press flowers."

"…is that all?" Sasuke asked, coming close to sneering; as if wondering to himself why he thought the timid woman standing in front of him would have something interesting to suggest.

"We could…train." Hinata offered weakly, regretting it the next second when Sasuke snorted in response.

"Train? In this downpour? I don't think so. You'd end up slipping on the mud and breaking your neck."

"Well…" Hinata muttered her gaze downcast yet again.

Becoming tired of waiting for Hinata to come up with something to say, Sasuke lightly gripped the young woman's arm.

"Let's go for a walk, then we can go home," he said shortly, making Hinata cringe.

To Hinata, it seemed she could do nothing to improve Sasuke's bad moods. If anything, Hinata assumed she always made things worse.

'Well this is fun…not.' Sasuke thought as he and Hinata walked along the bank of a small pond. He half reconsidered Hinata's suggestion of them training since just across the small body of water was a few wooden posts for taijutsu practice. But, Sasuke was nothing if not stubborn to the core. He suggested they go for a walk and that's what they would do.

Uncomfortable silence settled in between them, but it was nothing new. Extended awkward pauses and lapses in broken-up conversation was the norm. Sasuke would have found a way to remedy that, if he deemed the lack of chatter important. Actually, one of the few things he liked…could tolerate about Hinata was her lack of lip-flapping. She seemed perfectly happy with only a few words exchanged. No unnecessary words, no flowery gushes of romance, nothing.

"Oh!" the young woman exclaimed suddenly.

"What?" Sasuke asked, raising his umbrella up a little to look over his shoulder to Hinata.

"Come over here," the girl said in a hushed yet excited tone, waving her right hand for Sasuke to approach.

Eyes narrowed, Sasuke cautiously approached the slick embankment of the pond, "Okay, now what?"

Hinata turned and shushed him. Sasuke blinked, not used to being told to be quiet by anyone, let alone a timid slip of a girl.

"Look this way," Hinata said, her right hand pointing at something through the tall grasses and reeds.

Sasuke reluctantly complied, he looked in the vague direction Hinata pointed to, but couldn't see anything save for…grass and reeds.

"And what am I suppose to be looking at…"

Quack! At the noise, both Hinata and Sasuke looked down, their gazes falling on the pond where two full grown ducks were swimming and quacking, pacing the length of the embankment. The grasses parted, now Sasuke could see what Hinata was so interested in.

Three little yellow fluffy ducklings waddled through the mud and bits of greenery, quickly taking to the water as soon as their parents called. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Leave it to a girl to find something so mundane and think it was 'cute' and attention worthy.

"Well that was nice." Sasuke said, his tone of voice clearly patronizing, "Can we go now?"

Hinata nodded, "Yes…oh…" she gasped, followed closely by a giggle.

Sasuke almost dreaded to ask, "What is it now?"

Hinata giggled again, "S-sorry Sasuke, but I think…" another short laugh escaped her, "you have another admirer."

Sasuke first looked to his left, right and then twisted his head to look behind.

"No, he's at your feet." Hinata said, just now gaining enough control over her giggles to talk normally.

Looking down, Sasuke was greeted to the sight of a yellow fluff ball standing less than an inch from his right heel. Beady black eyes blinked up at him. Peep? Sasuke frowned seriously at the duckling.

'There always have to be one, who doesn't know how to take direction,' the young man thought. Somehow Sasuke thought that phrase applied more to his former teammate Naruto than the duckling; but same difference.

"Hey, genius. You're going the wrong way. The pond is over there." Sasuke said in a not-so-helpful manner.

The duckling simply cocked it's head inquisitively. The parent ducks and siblings quaked and peeped, calling the fourth one to the pond. It didn't take long for the fluff of feathers to realize he was going the wrong way. Turning around the duckling wadded into the water, swimming quickly to join his siblings.

"…stupid bird." Sasuke muttered.

Hinata smiled warmly, "Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity?" she suggested.

"What does that mean?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata only smiled and kept the 'joke' to herself. Somehow; she didn't think Sasuke wanted to know she thought the duckling might have thought Sasuke was it's momma or daddy, because it saw the ruffled back of his hair. Continuing their walk, Sasuke couldn't help but notice how Hinata watched the duck family, particular that one scatter-brained duckling. Now the yellow fluff-ball had taken to swimming ahead of not only his siblings; but his parent's as well.

"I never thought I would see an animal as dense as Naruto." Sasuke muttered to himself, thinking Hinata hadn't heard him.

She had. And it made Hinata cringe a little. She hated to hear Sasuke belittle his former teammates like that. Sometimes, Hinata felt like rubbing in the fact Naruto and Sakura were the only people who ever wanted Sasuke back. However, as true as the statement was, Hinata knew saying such a thing would be a low blow to anyone. Even the seemingly unfathomable Uchiha Sasuke.

"I…I honestly don't think he's scatter-brained. I think Naruto just marches to his own drum." Hinata replied honestly.

Sasuke turned a little to look at her, making Hinata realize she should have said 'duckling' instead of referring to his old teammate.

"I um…sorry…" she said, looking away.

"You like him that much." Sasuke stated rather than questioned.

Hinata ducked her head, face burning from a blush. "Um yes. I still like him…a little."

"But," she mustered up a weak smile, "I don't think there's a chance he'll ever see me as anything more than Hinata-chan."

Sasuke wasn't sure if he should take that as Hinata had given up on Naruto, or that she really took the marriage contract seriously. Before Hinata accepted her mission to be Sasuke's live-in guardian; Hiashi had refused to let his daughter live with a grown man. Or at least not without a contract of marriage.

'Sneaky Hyuuga, very sneaky.' Sasuke thought, expelling a small puff of air.

Rather than tell Hinata the contract didn't matter to him, Sasuke decided to let her keep thinking their sham marriage was sacred. For, as selfish as it sounded, Sasuke had grown accustomed to having Hinata around. He wasn't 'in love' with her, maybe he never would be. However, for not being a person in love, Sasuke found it bothered him Hinata still had feelings for Naruto.

"Let's go home," he said, suddenly not in the mood to finish up the rest of their rainy day stroll.

"Alright." Hinata replied, yet gave a lingering glance to the ducks as if she would have been perfectly content to watch them all day.

"If you want a pet that badly Hinata, we can always buy a cat; but I refuse to take in a duck."

Hinata wrinkled her nose, "I'm allergic to cats."

"I'm thinking black and white short hair." Sasuke continued, suddenly changing course for a pet shop.

"Ah! If we get a cat Kiba-kun and Akamaru can't come over to visit!" Hinata tried to protest, now all but pleading her case to Sasuke.

"Yet another good reason to get one." Sasuke returned with a rare smirk-smile hybrid curving on his lips.

Sasuke of course wasn't serious about getting a cat- he had enough trouble keeping track of Hinata inside that large house without worrying about a pet too. He just wanted to rile Hinata up a little bit, since her responses to some of his more outrageous statements were…amusing to watch.

Hinata's overreactions were yet another thing he tolerated…liked about her.

Note: Thanks for reading, I hope you have enjoyed this little fan ficlet! Later~


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